Head Coach Bubba Schweigert recently announced that current linebackers coach Brett Holinka will be elevated to the defensive coordinator position.

Thunder Lake Lodge

We had speculated last week that UND would look in-house for their new DC and that turned out to be the case.

Holinka came to UND after a one-year stint as defensive coordinator at U of Mary in 2018.  His resume shows defensive coaching experience at St. Thomas, Rutgers, and Winona State.  In 2019, Holinka coached outside linebackers for the Hawks.  During his playing days for UND (2005-2008), Holinka was an inside linebacker in the same 3-4 scheme that is run today.

We were able to catch up with Brett on Monday between sessions down at the AFCA Convention in Nashville.  Here are some takeaways from the conversation:

  • UND will continue to run the same 3-4 scheme they ran under Eric Schmidt.
  • As they prep for spring ball, Holinka stated the staff will evaluate what they run best and try to focus on that, essentially eliminating calls/packages that may not have been executed at a high level.
  • Being it’s Holinka’s first year as DC, we could see him scaling back the overall defensive package for the players benefit, as well as his own. Get good at a few things vs. decent at many.
  • The defense will continue to be pressure-based from all angles.
  • UND will more than likely continue to twist/stunt up front as they have in the past with defensive lineman that can move.
  • The new hire will be a defensive line coach for sure – Holinka and Carl Reinholz will stay with the linebackers.  They opened the job today and it needs to stay open for 10 days by law.
  • Holinka was very high on the freshman defensive lineman that are going to be counted on heavily next fall.

We will have more on potential defensive line coach candidates in the very near future.  We listed a couple names already in Austin Flyger and Austin Dickinson. Schweigert will undoubtedly get a bunch of applicants for the job to go along with the contacts that are being made down at the convention this week.